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Hare Pie

A savory pie made with hare, shallots, Port wine, herbs, and spices, baked with a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Hare Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the hare into pieces and parboil for 2 minutes to cleanse it.

  2. Wash the hare well.

Stew the hare

  1. Place the hare in a stew pot with shallots, Port wine, herbs, cloves, and allspice.

  2. Cover with veal broth and stew until half cooked.

  3. Remove the prime pieces like the back and legs.

  4. Let the remaining pieces stew longer.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fill a dish with the preserved pieces and some water.

  2. Cover the dish with pie crust.

  3. Bake for 1 hour.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Strain the gravy from the trimmings.

  2. Thicken the gravy.

  3. Add Port wine and lemon juice to the gravy.

  4. Pour the hot gravy into the pie.

  5. Optionally line the bottom of the dish with hare stuffing or make forcemeat balls.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,077 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hare
Lean meat that becomes tender and moist after slow stewing in liquid.
Veal broth
Gelatin-rich liquid that gives the stew and gravy body and a savory flavor.
Port wine
Adds sweetness, depth and dark color to the stew and gravy.
Shallots
Mild onion flavor that builds aroma in the stewing liquid.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy and balances the Port.
Pie crust
Encloses the filling, holding in moisture while it bakes and browns.

The step that matters

Removing the prime pieces at the halfway point. Lean prime cuts like the back and legs dry out and toughen with long cooking, while tougher pieces need more time to become tender. Taking the prime pieces out early keeps them moist.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (port wine, thyme, marjoram, parsley, clove, allspice, veal):

  1. Carrotfits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Parsnipfits less well
  4. Turnipfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against port wine, thyme, marjoram, parsley, clove, allspice, veal. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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